Lean mean XML parsing machine
I just finished writing a new engine for my dad’s website! It parses XML files and places the appropriate items in the title and body tags. I also have it so that it converts newlines to breaks using nl2br() (which is a godsend!). I’m getting ready to write him an editor for it so that he can’t break the xml either (I have the pages disguised as .wood, his business is Woodsmith Creations, documents so that Windows won’t pickup the extension and open it with the wrong program).
I also used a trick i found here to do mod_rewrite-ish URLs without mod_rewrite! (AcceptPathInfo must be on in your httpd.conf though, so that PHP can access the $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] variable)
Now I just need my partner to finish up CSS and Images and we will be ready to rock!
Some specs for Linux on the PS3
Well, I knew that the ps3 didn’t have much ram. I didn’t think that it would only be 214MB though! I believe that there are actually 256MB in the PS3, but that 42MB are taken by the hyperviser (which prevents graphics card access). Thankfully the processor helps to make up for it by clocking in at just over 3.1Ghz. Not bad, eh?
Also the audio support (at least in Gentoo) is fantastic! I had to do nothing to get 5.1 Surround Sound working other than install amarok! Also very good. Maybe I’ll put a Gentoo installation guide for the PS3 on here soon…
Ups and Downs
It has been forever since I’ve gotten around to posting here again. I’ve been a bit busy. My laptop, which is my primary computer, just died. So I have had to get all the info off of there. I also got Gentoo installed on my PS3. WPA just started working on it, so now I have a pretty nice computer here. I need to get a larger hard drive though.
Lately in my spare time (eg when I got fed up with data retrieval) I have been writing a password hasher file encrypter/decrypter. It works moderately well. I haven’t done huge stress tests on it yet, that will be once I get some kinks ironned out.
Is not having flash a good thing?
If recent reports about malicious flash files being distributed as ads are to be believed, then yes! In this case, Linux users, who typically have trouble installing flash, are far less vulnerable to the attack because flash doesn’t work well (if at all) on many systems (Ubuntu being the exception).
An AI for FO
I have finally reached the point that I need to test my FreeOrion ResourceAI. Yeah! Now if only I could get the stupid thing to compile on Arch! I have all dependencies, but GiGi errors out at the latest revision when I attempt to compile it. I moved back to rev. 639 (from 648 ) and am trying again. It’s been going alot longer, so maybe it will work this time. In the meantime I also made a Pownce profile here.
The New Inquisition
Yeah, it’s been awhile since my last post. Sorry. Anyway, I’ve been reading up on the International Criminal Court. Very interesting stuff. Although, since it has no checks or balances, it has the potential to become a Secular Spanish Inquisition of the Middle Ages. No one could touch it, they could arrest anyone they wanted on whatever charge they wanted and get away with it. As corruption and lust creep into the ICC, this will inevitably happen. It is said that “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” All of the founders of the ICC were doubtless taugh that the cause of the Spanish Inquisition’s reign of terror was religion. It wasn’t. The cause was corruption. This new inquisition will doubtless find itself a tool of corrupt officials.
When the fire goes out
This is a short post. Just a couple of lines. I was reading a series of articles on Why Ubuntu (Still) Sucks and realized something. Peter was right. He said in the last days people would be willfully ignorant. And boy he was right. Mr. Kennedy is willfully ignorant of why MSFT is failing. People don’t want a new computer every two years. Or at least most don’t. My dad does, but he is a tech-inclined guy. I can’t think of any average consumers (aka not programmers) that would like to buy a new computer and set it up every two years. WOW this turned out longer than I expected. And the reason I didn’t defend ubuntu from Mr. Kennedy is because it doesn’t need defending. Why defend water from fire? The water may disappear for a time, but it will come back no matter how many times you throw it on a fire. And eventually the fire goes out.
Should we observe holidays?
Paul wrote to the Galatians that he feared that he had wasted his efforts on them because they were “observing special days and months and seasons and years!” Should we then follow his example and ignore holidays? Or should we observe these ’special days’ like the Galatians? We should not ignore that the holidays exist, but maybe we shouldn’t celebrate them either.
Reaching for Enlightenment
Enlightenment is without a doubt the nicest looking Window Manager available. It’s leagues ahead of KDE, GNOME, Aqua, or Aero even though it’s only been in development for a couple of years. Be careful though, when you get it, make sure you get the DR17 version, and not the DR16 one. Why? The DR17 one is nice, sleek, and powerful. The DR16 one is uglier than Al Gore. I personally use it on an Ubuntu Hardy system. I use a combination of the Carbon14, Fireball, and Zerg themes on it. Too bad GNOME doesn’t integrate into it well. Here is a screen of my desktop:
And here are some videos of it:
Or am I alone?
The internet really needs a total redesign. I mean completely new technology. No longer using the vulerability prone HTML, SQL, JavaScript, etc. that make things so dangerous for the rest of us. I realize that this feat would be very nearly impossible to pull off. The cost would astronomical; the potential for data loss incalculable. But it needs doing. We need another internet revolution.
People are now able to steal information and install malware using legitimate websites. All they need is a browser. Sound like a security risk? It is. Millions of web pages are now known to install malware on your computer using this method. No matter what OS you use, you will doubtless be hit by it eventually. It will keep growing, as this attach is nearly untraceable and can be launched from any computer with an internet connection. If the majority of Windows users migrate to Linux and Mac OS to avoid the attacks, the hackers will just put different malware on the sites that runs on Linux and Mac computers. There are already many like that (although Linux/Mac malware can do very little damage, and can usually be removed relatively easily).
I am not alone in this concern. Or am I? I just hope that slashdot, cnet, and google can avoid this attack (those are the only sites I really use besides wordpress).
View Original Article: Skeleton key unlocks Microsoft SQL servers in latest Web attack | Defense in Depth – computer security, hacking, crime, viruses – CNET News.com
Tags: sql, injection, new, technology, internet, security, risk, malware
